Here is a post-Xmas bauble to consider for the New Year. Virtually all the debate and controversy over the future sovereignty and integrity of Taiwan and Ukraine have rested on preventing the worst from happening. The worst is that China will absorb Taiwan, and Ukraine will fall under the influence of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But has the time come when these possibilities must be seriously discussed? Some argue that if both states lose independence, the conditions of 1938 and Czechoslovakia will be recreated-and those were not Hitler’s last move. Yet, fifty years ago last April 30, North Vietnamese forces marched into Saigon, ending that war. What were the strategic consequences of that defeat for the US? None.

Indeed, Vietnam is at least a partial friend today and a possible counterweight to China. Of course, Ukraine is embedded in Eurasia, and its geostrategic significance regarding Europe is greater than the post-Vietnam dominoes that never fell. And how would most of the Asia-Pacific region view a Chinese takeover of Taiwan? Probably not favorably.

How such contingencies arise should affect the reactions of the US and all interested parties. Suppose a new........

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